Effect of the feeding rate on microstructure and properties of plasma spheroidized GH4169 powder

The growing interest in additive manufacturing of GH4169 alloy was accompanied by the demand on spherical GH4169 powders with high performance.The powder particles were treated by radio frequency plasma with the different feeding rates.The microstructure and morphology,the particle size distribution of as-treated powders were studied by scanning electron microscopy and laser particle size analysis.It was demonstrated that GH4169 powders with extremely fine followability were obtained by radio frequency plasma spheroidization technology.With the same plasma parameters,the spheroidization efficiency of the particles varied with the feeding rates.When the rate of the powder feeding rates was too small,the excessive absorption of the heating by the powders caused vaporization,then the collection decreased.When the feeding rates was too large,the powder particles were insufficiently absorbed,resulting in defects in the powders.The microstructure of the as-treated spherical particles was mainly cell crystals,columnar crystals,and even microcrystals.Under the suitable plasma parameters,the resulting powders haved a slightly increased average particle size,excellent spheroidization,surface smoothness,followability,and bulk ratio.

Porous nanofibrous dressing enables mesenchymal stem cell spheroid formation and delivery to promote diabetic wound healing

Delayed and nonhealing of diabetic wounds imposes substantial economic burdens and physical pain on patients.Mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)promote diabetic wound healing.Particularly when MSCs aggregate into multicellular spheroids,their therapeutic effect is enhanced.However,traditional culture platforms are inadequate for the efficient preparation and delivery of MSC spheroids,resulting in inefficiencies and inconveniences in MSC spheroid therapy.In this study,a three-dimensional porous nanofibrous dressing(NFD)is prepared using a combination of electrospinning and homogeneous freeze-drying.Using thermal crosslinking,the NFD not only achieves satisfactory elasticity but also maintains notable cytocompatibility.Through the design of its structure and chemical composition,the NFD allows MSCs to spontaneously form MSC spheroids with controllable sizes,serving as MSC spheroid delivery systems for diabetic wound sites.Most importantly,MSC spheroids cultured on the NFD exhibit improved secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor,basic fibroblast growth factor,and hepatocyte growth factor,thereby accelerating diabetic wound healing.The NFD provides a competitive strategy for MSC spheroid formation and delivery to promote diabetic wound healing.

A novel DPSS filter optimization scheme to reduce the intrinsic interference of FBMC-QAM systems

In order to reduce the intrinsic interference of the filter bank multicarrier-quadrature amplitude modulation(FBMC-QAM)system,a novel filter optimization scheme based on discrete prolate spheroidal sequences(DPSS)is proposed.Firstly,a prototype filter function based on DPSS is designed,since the eigenvalue can be used as an indicator of the energy concentration of DPSS,so a threshold is set,and the sequence with the most concentrated energy is selected under the threshold,that is,the sequence with the eigenvalue higher than the threshold,and the prototype filter function is rewritten as a weighted sum function of multiple eigenvectors.Under the energy constraints of the filter,the relationship between the eigenvectors and the intrinsic interference function is established,and the function problem is transformed into an optimization problem for the weighted coefficients.Through the interior point method,the most suitable weight is found to obtain the minimum intrinsic interference result.Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that compared with the prototype filters such as Type1 and CaseC,the DPSS filter applying the proposed optimization algorithm can effectively suppress the intrinsic interference of the system and obtain a better bit error rate(BER)performance.

Spatiotemporal pharmacometabolomics based on ambient mass spectrometry imaging to evaluate the metabolism and hepatotoxicity of amiodarone in HepG2 spheroids

Three-dimensional(3D)cell spheroid models combined with mass spectrometry imaging(MSI)enables innovative investigation of in vivo-like biological processes under different physiological and pathological conditions.Herein,airflow-assisted desorption electrospray ionization-MSI(AFADESI-MSI)was coupled with 3D HepG2 spheroids to assess the metabolism and hepatotoxicity of amiodarone(AMI).High-coverage imaging of>1100 endogenous metabolites in hepatocyte spheroids was achieved using AFADESI-MSI.Following AMI treatment at different times,15 metabolites of AMI involved in Ndesethylation,hydroxylation,deiodination,and desaturation metabolic reactions were identified,and according to their spatiotemporal dynamics features,the metabolic pathways of AMI were proposed.Subsequently,the temporal and spatial changes in metabolic disturbance within spheroids caused by drug exposure were obtained via metabolomic analysis.The main dysregulated metabolic pathways included arachidonic acid and glycerophospholipid metabolism,providing considerable evidence for the mechanism of AMI hepatotoxicity.In addition,a biomarker group of eight fatty acids was selected that provided improved indication of cell viability and could characterize the hepatotoxicity of AMI.The combination of AFADESI-MSI and HepG2 spheroids can simultaneously obtain spatiotemporal information for drugs,drug metabolites,and endogenous metabolites after AMI treatment,providing an effective tool for in vitro drug hepatotoxicity evaluation.

The generation and properties of human cortical organoids as a disease model for malformations of cortical development

As three-dimensional“organ-like”aggregates,human cortical organoids have emerged as powerful models for studying human brain evolution and brain disorders with unique advantages of humanspecificity,fidelity and manipulation.Human cortical organoids derived from human pluripotent stem cells can elaborately replicate many of the key properties of human cortical development at the molecular,cellular,structural,and functional levels,including the anatomy,functional neural network,and interaction among different brain regions,thus facilitating the discovery of brain development and evolution.In addition to studying the neuro-electrophysiological features of brain cortex development,human cortical organoids have been widely used to mimic the pathophysiological features of cortical-related disease,especially in mimicking malformations of cortical development,thus revealing pathological mechanism and identifying effective drugs.In this review,we provide an overview of the generation of human cortical organoids and the properties of recapitulated cortical development and further outline their applications in modeling malformations of cortical development including pathological phenotype,underlying mechanisms and rescue strategies.

Changes of protein expression during tumorosphere formation of small cell lung cancer circulating tumor cells

Small cell lung cancer(SCLC)is frequently disseminated and has a dismal prognosis with survival times of approximately two years.This cancer responds well to initial chemotherapy but recurs within a short time as a globally chemoresistant tumor.Circulating tumor cells(CTCs)are held responsible for metastasis,the extremely high numbers of these cells in advanced SCLC allowed us to establish several permanent CTC cell lines.These CTCs are distinguished by the spontaneous formation of large spheroids,termed tumorospheres,in regular tissue culture.These contain quiescent and hypoxic cells in their interior and are associated with high chemoresistance compared to single cell cultures.Nine CTC lines were compared for their expression of 84 proteins associated with cancer either as single cells or in the form of tumorospheres in Western blot arrays.With the exception of the UHGc5 line,all other CTC lines express EpCAM and lack a complete EpCAM-negative,vimentin-positive epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)phenotype.Upon formation of tumorospheres the expression of EpCAM,that mediates cell-cell adhesion is markedly upregulated.Proteins such as E-Cadherin,p27 KIP1,Progranulin,BXclx,Galectin-3,and Survivin showed variable changes for the distinct CTC cell lines.In conclusion,EpCAM presents the most critical marker for individual SCLC CTCs and the assembly of highly chemoresistant tumorospheres.

Ca^(2+)-induced myelin pathology precedes axonal spheroid formation and is mediated in part by store-operated Ca^(2+)entry after spinal cord injury

The formation of axonal spheroid is a common feature following spinal cord injury.To further understand the source of Ca^(2+)that mediates axonal spheroid formation,we used our previously characterized ex vivo mouse spinal cord model that allows precise perturbation of extracellular Ca^(2+).We performed twophoton excitation imaging of spinal cords isolated from Thy1YFP+transgenic mice and applied the lipophilic dye,Nile red,to record dynamic changes in dorsal column axons and their myelin sheaths respectively.We selectively released Ca^(2+)from internal stores using the Ca^(2+)ionophore ionomycin in the presence or absence of external Ca^(2+).We reported that ionomycin dose-dependently induces pathological changes in myelin and pronounced axonal spheroid formation in the presence of normal 2 m M Ca^(2+)artificial cerebrospinal fluid.In contrast,removal of external Ca^(2+)significantly decreased ionomycin-induced myelin and axonal spheroid formation at 2 hours but not at 1 hour after treatment.Using mice that express a neuron-specific Ca^(2+)indicator in spinal cord axons,we confirmed that ionomycin induced significant increases in intra-axonal Ca^(2+),but not in the absence of external Ca^(2+).Periaxonal swelling and the resultant disruption in the axo-myelinic interface often precedes and is negatively correlated with axonal spheroid formation.Pretreatment with YM58483(500 n M),a well-established blocker of store-operated Ca^(2+)entry,significantly decreased myelin injury and axonal spheroid formation.Collectively,these data reveal that ionomycin-induced depletion of internal Ca^(2+)stores and subsequent external Ca^(2+)entry through store-operated Ca^(2+)entry contributes to pathological changes in myelin and axonal spheroid formation,providing new targets to protect central myelinated fibers.

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of heating and melting behaviors of cerium oxide powders in radio frequency thermal plasma

The present study aims at the numerical simulations of the melting process of cerium oxide particles in RF thermal plasma.The physical model and the calculating method were described firstly;the interaction between cerium oxide particles and plasma was analyzed;specific attention was given to the effects of particle initial size,injection velocity on the particle melting and trajectory in plasma.The influence of the temperature field and velocity field distribution of the plasma around the particle trajectory on the melting effect is analyzed,and the relationship between the heat absorption efficiency of the particles and the particle size reduction process is further determined.It is also found that there exists an optimal particle initial injection velocity which led to a more concentrated final particle size distribution and a more significant reduction of particle size.The results could provide effective guidance for understanding the plasma spheroidization process of uranium dioxide and cerium dioxide powder particles.

Essential tremor:A three-dimensional neurosphere in vitro model to assess the neurotoxicity of harmane

Objectives: To use a novel in vitro model of three-dimensional(3D) neurosphere cultures to assess neurotoxic or neuroprotective effects with harmane as a model compound.Methods: A reproducible model of 3D spheroids was developed from embryonic mouse cortical neurons,using molded agarose micro-wells;this method seems particularly practical as it is customizable and widely available and does not require specific cell treatments or assay components different from 2D cultures, allowing for the easy transposition of routine protocols. To assess the neurotoxic effects of harmane, a resazurin assay was performed to measure cell viability, and a highly sensitive fluorometric method, based on the oxidation of dichlorodihydrofluorescein, was applied to measure eventually induced reactive oxygen species(ROS) after exposure to harmane at increasing concentrations of 50 100,and 250 μm.Results: Hydrogel microwells facilitated the assembly of spheroids containing neurons and glial cells into a complex 3D structure and prevented the agglomeration of spheroids. Exposure to harmane induced cytotoxicity in 3D neural spheroids, which was correlated with harmane concentrations, with a 27%reduction in viability at 250 μm. Harmane that did not induce significant levels of oxidative stress was detected for all tested concentrations.Conclusion: This 3D neurosphere model mimics a neuronal microenvironment, allowing a fine study of neurodegenerative disorders and the effects of chemicals on the brain. This model opens novel opportunities, not only from a pathogenetic point of view but also from a therapeutic perspective.

Morphogenesis of Floating Bone Segments: A Legacy of Serial Tensile Cross-Strut Microdamage in Trabecular Disconnection “Crumple Zones”?

Trabecular bone disconnection “hotspots” of real termini (ReTm) previously mapped as loci of weakness in the female aging spine and hip may be a source of free-floating cancellous segments found in the medullary space using a bespoke, thick slice histological method for identifying ReTm. A factor in their origin is apparently microdamage proliferation (differentiated by en bloc silver staining) with occasional callus moderation. Validation of similar “floating segments” (FS) in the ex-breeder rat suggested a pilot model for a potentially common phenomenon. Following marrow elution and density fractionation of the isolated floating segments from the whole proximal rat femora, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and elemental microanalysis (EDS) was performed. The eluent contained numbers of vertically truncated, laterally branched floating segments (acute severance of sequential tensile cross-struts, causing chronic compression overload of axial-struts, with ii) inadequate stabilising callus, facilitating ReTm stacking into predetermined, substructural “crumple zones” of force containment, spheroidal attrition and particulate dissociation. As a catabolic outcome of altered tensile and hormonal influence, FS number may add a novel variable to cancellous bone kinetics particularly in women of relevance to fracture predisposition.

基于PSWF的正交载波调制方法

为了提高通信系统的能效,提出了一种高效正交载波调制方法。在该方法中,基于能效优先原则,采用频谱混叠、时域正交的椭圆球面波函数(prolate spheroidal wave function,PSWF)设计基带脉冲波形,通过正交的同频载波实现载波调制。理论分析及数值仿真了该调制方法的差错性能、频域能量集中度。仿真结果表明,带内能量聚集度可达99.8%,该特性可大幅减小对相邻用户的电磁干扰,并有利于提高信号的抗干扰性能。

Spheroidization behavior of dendritic b.c.c. phase in Zr-based β-phase composite

The spheroidization behavior of the dendritic b.c.c. phase dispersed in a bulk metallic glass (BMG) matrix was investigated through applying semi-solid isothermal processing and a subsequent rapid quenching procedure to a Zr-based β-phase composite. The Zr-based composite with the composition of Zr56.2Ti13.8Nb5.0Cu6.9Ni5.6Be12.5 was prefabricated by a water-cooled copper mold-casting method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that the composite consists of a glassy matrix and uniformly distributed fine dendrites of the β-Zr solid solution with the body-centered-cubic (b.c.c.) structure. Based on the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) examination results, and in view of the b.c.c. β-Zr to h.c.p. α-Zr phase transition temperature, a semi-solid holding temperature of 900℃ was determined. After reheating the prefabricated composite to the semi-solid temperature, followed by an isothermal holding process at this temperature for 5 min, and then quenching the semi-solid mixture into iced-water; the two-phase microstructure composed of a BMG matrix and uniformly dispersed spherical b.c.c. β-Zr particles with a high degree of sphericity was achieved. The present spheroidization transition is a thermodynamically autonomic behavior, and essentially a diffusion process controlled by kinetic factors; and the formation of the BMG matrix should be attributed to the rapid quenching of the semi-solid mixture as well as the large glass-forming ability of the remaining melt in the semi-solid mixture.

Investigation into microstructure of spray formed V4 cold working mould steel and its roiling and annealing

The material selected for this work was the spray formed Vanadis4 high alloy cold working mould steel （abbreviated to V4 steel）. Its microstructure, hot rolling process, and annealing treatment have been investigated. Observed from the optical and electron microscopes, the as-sprayed V4 steel had the finer microstructure of uniform and equiaxial grains ,while after hot rolling for densification and spheroidized annealing, the V4 steel obtained an excellent spheroidized structure that is favorable to subsequent quenching and tempering treatment. The spheroidized structure and level of annealed hardness of the V4 steel are almost the same as expensive imported powder metallurgy the V4 steel. It is difficult to produce V4 steel with the conventional ingot metallurgical technique, so the multi-step and high-cost powder metallurgy method is generally used at present. Compared to the powder metallurgy technique, using the spray forming technique to produce the V4 steel has obvious advantages and potential market competitiveness in reducing production costs, simplifying working process, and shortening the production cycle.

大张角聚焦换能器中的张角变化对生物组织温度场的影响

高强度聚焦超声(HIFU)是现代医学肿瘤治疗物理疗法的一项重要技术,其原理是通过聚焦方法将大面积超声聚焦换能器辐射出的声能量汇聚于面积极小的聚焦区,使聚焦区获得较强的声能量并利用超声波的热效应在短时间内使病灶部位获得较高的温升,从而使肿瘤组织热凝固坏死.大张角聚焦换能器指的是球面半张角大于16.6°的球壳式聚焦换能器.相对于传统的小张角换能器,大张角聚焦换能器拥有更强的声聚焦效应,聚焦区半径更小,穿透性更好,声能量聚焦效果明显强于小张角换能器,所以可以获得更好的温升.利用Spheroidal Beam Equation(SBE)方程求解大张角聚焦换能器条件下的声场获得空间热源的产热率,然后通过Pennes方程解出大张角聚焦换能器条件下生物组织中的温度场分布.研究不同改变张角方式下大张角聚焦换能器作用下生物组织的温升分布情况,研究结果表明改变换能器的孔径以改变张角时,张角越大温升越大,而改变其焦距以改变张角时,温度变化则相反.实验也验证了换能器孔径变化对生物组织中的温升的影响.

Effect of Rare Earth on Microstructures and Properties of High Speed Steel With High Carbon Content

The effects of rare earth （RE） on the microstructures and properties of high carbon high speed steel （HCHSS） were investigated. The results show that when suitable RE is added to the HCHSS, the effect of RE on the austenite and eutectic carbides is obvious. The austenite grain and coarse eutectic structure are refined, and flake carbides in the eutectic structures become short and fine. After heat treatment, most of the eutectic carbides are spheroidized and distributed in a uniform manner. The hardness and red hardness of modified HCHSS are slightly increased; impact toughness is greatly increased by 37.81% and reaches 10.17 J/cm^2. The mechanism by which RE improves the structures and properties of HCHSS is also analyzed.

REMAINING LIFE ASSESSMENT OF A 1Cr5Mo STEEL BY USING Z-PARAMETER METHOD

Z-parameter method based on the Larson-Miller relationship is proposed to assess remaining life of a 1Cr5Mo steel. The non-linear master curve of stress a vs. Larson-Miller parameter P of the steel can be expressed as: P=29.608-5. 085logσ. A family of curves parallel to the master curve can be expressed as: P=29.608-Z-5.085logσ, where the value of Z represents the magnitude deviated from the master curve. A relationship between the value of Z-parameter and the level of spheroidization E (mi-crostructural degradation) can be expressed as: Z=0.203(E-1).

Primary porcine hepatocytes with portal vein serum cultured on microcarriers or in spheroidal aggregates

AIM To develop a culture mode providingdurable biomaterials with high yields andactivities used in bioartificial liver.METHODS Hepatocytes were isolated from awhole pig liver by Seglen’s method of orthotopicperfusion with collagenase.In culture onmicrocarriers,primary porcine hepatocyteswere inoculated at a concentration of 5×10~7/mLinto the static culture systems containing 2 g/LCytodex-3,then supplemented with 100 mL/Lfetal calf serum(FCS)or 100 mL/L porcineportal vein serum(PPVS)respectively.Inspheroidal aggregate culture hepatocytes wereinoculated into 100 mL siliconized flasks at aconcentration of 5.0×10~6/mL.RESULTS In culture on microcarriershepatocytes tended to aggregate on Cytodex-3obviously after being inoculated.Typical multi-cellular aggregated spheroids could be found inthe two systems 24 h-48 h after hepatocyteswere cultured.The morphological charact-eristics and synthetic functions were maintainedfor 5 wk in FCS culture system and 8 wk in PPVSculture system.In spheroidal aggregate cultureabout 80%-90% isolated hepatocytes becameaggregated spheroids 24h after cultured insuspension and mean diameter of the spheroidswas 100μm.The relationship among thehepatocytes resembled that in the liver in vivo.Synthetic functions of albumin and urea of the spheroids were twice those of hepatocytescultured on monolayers.CONCLUSION As high-yields and high-activitymodes of culture on microcarriers or inspheroidal aggregate culture with portal veinserum are promising to provide biomaterials forbioartificial liver(BAL)efficiently.

Formation Mechanism of Chunky Graphite and Its Preventive Measures

The formation mechanism of chunky graphite has been reviewed and studied. The study consisted of a unidirectional solidification method, a small droplet method and a furnace cooling method. Four kinds of iron samples were prepared, namely, the pure Fe-C, Fe-C-S, Fe-C-Ce and Fe-C-Si-Ce alloys, and three kinds of nickel samples, namely the Ni-C, Ni-C-S and Ni-C-Mg alloys. The results of the unidirectional solidification of the Ni-C alloys showed that spheroidal graphite is not observed in the continuous solidified region, in which only flake-like graphite is observed, while spheroidal graphite is usually observed in the quenched liquid region. The existence of spheroidal graphite in the solidified phase is recognized only in the discontinuous growth mode of the Ni-C-Mg alloy solidified at 150 mm/h. This means that the spheroidal graphite is directly crystallized from the melt and entrapped by the flake-like chunky graphite that is formed by the continuous growth mode. In the small droplet method, a small piece of the Fe-C or Fe-C-Ce sample was melted on a pure graphite plate then cooled at a different cooling rate in a He-3%H2 atmosphere. The graphite in the Fe-C-Ce alloy is usually spherical. Nevertheless, the graphite morphology of the final solidified area changed from spherical to chunky and chunky to ledeburite with an increase in the cooling rate. This means that the chunky graphite is formed in the residual liquid region by the solidification into Fe-graphite system. The sample was cooled in a furnace, and the graphite morphology changes from spherical to chunky and chunky to ledeburite with the decrease in the Si content. These phenomena can be confirmed by the cooling curves of these samples.

Effect of Plasma Spheroidization Process on the Microstructure and Crystallographic Phases of Silica, Alumina and Nickel Particles

During the plasma spheroidization process powders undergo different changes in their microstructures and crystal phases. In this paper, simple calculation of heat transfer between the plasma and a suspended particle was performed based on three hypotheses for the purpose of guiding experiments. Experimental investigation of the crystal phases and microstructural changes during the plasma processing was made using silica, alumina and nickel powders as starting materials. It has been revealed from the experimental results that these materials undergo different changes in crystal phases and microstructures, and these changes are essentially determined by the structures, properties and aggregate states of the starting materials.

Well-ordered layered LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 submicron sphere with fast electrochemical kinetics for cathodic lithium storage

Nickel-rich layered oxides have drawn sustainable attentions for lithium ion batteries owing to their higher theoretical capacities and lower cost.However,nickel-rich layered oxides also have exposed several defects for commercial application,such as uncontrollable ordered layered structure,which leads to higher energy barrier for Li+diffusion.In addition,suffering from structural mutability,the bulk nickelrich cathode materials likely trigger overall volumetric variation and intergranular cracks,thus obstructing the lithium ion diffusion path and shortening the service life of the whole device.Herein,we report wellordered layered Li Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 submicron spheroidal particles via an optimized co-precipitation and investigated as LIBs cathodes for high-performance lithium storage.The as-fabricated Li Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 delivers high initial capacity of 228 mAh g–1,remarkable energy density of 866 Wh kg–1,rapid Li ion diffusion coefficient(10–9cm2s–1)and low voltage decay.The remarkable electrochemical performance should be ascribed to the well-ordered layered structure and uniform submicron spheroidal particles,which enhance the structural stability and ameliorate strain relaxation via reducing the parcel size and shortening Li-ion diffusion distance.This work anticipatorily provides an inspiration to better design particle morphology for structural stability and rate capability in electrochemistry energy storage devices.